I'll start out by saying that this is my first build, I guess the title gave that away ;D. I've been wanting to build up a classic bike for the past 10 years, but living in an apartment made that kind of difficult. Fortunately my wife and I where able to purchase our first house this year, and once we got settled in it was time for a project.
Week 1
So after messaging a few people on CL and not getting any responses back I finally found a guy selling a 1980 CB750K that was in pieces. At first I wasn't sure about buy a motorcycle puzzle but then I realized had had basically done the first half project just in getting it taken apart!
The first thing I did was to start mocking everything up.
At this point I decided to go with super bike bars, originally I wanted to build a cafe racer, but after having sport bike I just didn't want to do clip ons again. I think the low bars and CB750F rear sets give it a sporty enough feel.
I went with bar end mirrors with integrated turn signals, I wanted to keep a minimalist theme as much as possible. I also bought some "brown" grips off of eBay, brown must mean something different over there (they are getting replaced soon)
Week 2
Nest step was to strip the paint off the tank. At first I trained aircraft stripper, but all it did was make a mess. So after getting fed up with it I went to town on it with a wire wheel. This took care of the paint in no time. Also I can't believe how thick the paint is on these tanks.
During the same weekend I also made some custom bolts out of 303 stainless for the swingarm and engine mount. I could not find the factory bolts for these rear sets anywhere. Plus I think these look cooler.
Next I tackled cleaning up the valves and lapping them. Chucking them on a drill made and using a scotch bright pad made quick work of cleaning off the carbon buildup. Then I set off to lapping them.
Then I re-installed the valves with new seals.
Week 2.5
Apparently an extra seal was included to make me think that I had forgotten to install one.
So all the valves were taken out once again to be checked.
Week 3
I had ordered my shocks a few weeks ago and they finally arrived. I decided to go with RFY shocks that I would send off to get rebuilt. After a rebuild they should function very well, plus they just look cool and the price is right.
Week 4
After I took the paint off of the tank I thought that I wanted to keep it raw, but after looking around I felt like that had been done a lot so I went with my original color idea, white. I did a base of self etching primer, then 6 coats of Duplicolor Perfect Match Universal white, and finally 4 coats of 2k clear.
Once it dried for 24 hours I wet sanded and polished it up, I think it came out pretty good IMHO.
I also got my gauges from Dime City Cycles and mounted them.
Oh yeah and the seat from Texavina. I'm surprised I don't see more of his seats he has a ton of options for a bunch of bikes. I decided to go with a seat that has space for a passenger in case my wife wanted to ride, and I like how it's raised in the rear to give it a little more character and support.
So that is where I'm at as of now, I still have a ways to go, but I can see the progress.
Next I'm going to tackle the engine assembly which is a little daunting since I've never put a 4 stroke back together.
Week 1
So after messaging a few people on CL and not getting any responses back I finally found a guy selling a 1980 CB750K that was in pieces. At first I wasn't sure about buy a motorcycle puzzle but then I realized had had basically done the first half project just in getting it taken apart!
The first thing I did was to start mocking everything up.
At this point I decided to go with super bike bars, originally I wanted to build a cafe racer, but after having sport bike I just didn't want to do clip ons again. I think the low bars and CB750F rear sets give it a sporty enough feel.
I went with bar end mirrors with integrated turn signals, I wanted to keep a minimalist theme as much as possible. I also bought some "brown" grips off of eBay, brown must mean something different over there (they are getting replaced soon)
Week 2
Nest step was to strip the paint off the tank. At first I trained aircraft stripper, but all it did was make a mess. So after getting fed up with it I went to town on it with a wire wheel. This took care of the paint in no time. Also I can't believe how thick the paint is on these tanks.
During the same weekend I also made some custom bolts out of 303 stainless for the swingarm and engine mount. I could not find the factory bolts for these rear sets anywhere. Plus I think these look cooler.
Next I tackled cleaning up the valves and lapping them. Chucking them on a drill made and using a scotch bright pad made quick work of cleaning off the carbon buildup. Then I set off to lapping them.
Then I re-installed the valves with new seals.
Week 2.5
Apparently an extra seal was included to make me think that I had forgotten to install one.
So all the valves were taken out once again to be checked.
Week 3
I had ordered my shocks a few weeks ago and they finally arrived. I decided to go with RFY shocks that I would send off to get rebuilt. After a rebuild they should function very well, plus they just look cool and the price is right.
Week 4
After I took the paint off of the tank I thought that I wanted to keep it raw, but after looking around I felt like that had been done a lot so I went with my original color idea, white. I did a base of self etching primer, then 6 coats of Duplicolor Perfect Match Universal white, and finally 4 coats of 2k clear.
Once it dried for 24 hours I wet sanded and polished it up, I think it came out pretty good IMHO.
I also got my gauges from Dime City Cycles and mounted them.
Oh yeah and the seat from Texavina. I'm surprised I don't see more of his seats he has a ton of options for a bunch of bikes. I decided to go with a seat that has space for a passenger in case my wife wanted to ride, and I like how it's raised in the rear to give it a little more character and support.
So that is where I'm at as of now, I still have a ways to go, but I can see the progress.
Next I'm going to tackle the engine assembly which is a little daunting since I've never put a 4 stroke back together.